As millions of young men and women around the world approach the ominous age of thirty each year, they suddenly find themselves being surrounded by companies claiming strange things. While one claims that you need an age miracle another says it can reverse the seven signs of ageing for you, so you’ll be ready to rule the world again!
With hundreds of such products flooding our lives, the marketing world has certainly tapped into one of the most dreaded insecurities of mankind, i.e. ‘losing their youth’. Given a chance we all would definitely like to stay young forever. But root of the matter is that even before those fine lines become visible on your face, these ‘miracle producing’ companies are ready to declare you ‘old’ under the microscope.
Anti-ageing, which is a big market in the western world, is catching up in India at a growth rate of 40 per cent. We didn’t even realize when we began to take 30 as the start of ageing. And such has been the effect created by the marketing geniuses of the world that people now actually dread to cross the age mark of 30.
Given a chance, many would not even celebrate their thirtieth birthday. Birthday’s become a day of existential crisis. Many will do anything, pay any amount, to stop it or at least slow it down. An internal study conducted by the Hindustan Unilevers had revealed that, on an average, the Indian urban consumer spends Rs 900 a month on skin care. No wonder the number of salons is on a rise and even India is now considering ‘Salon
tourism’ seriously.
Another bunch benefiting out of it are the psychiatrists. Age related depression is on a rise as more and more people are finding themselves unable to cope with it. Some say men handle it the worst, while others say it’s the women.
But what is it with 30 that causes depression? As per the ‘psychiatrists’, 30 seems to be an age where people have set specific goals to be achieved, and having not achieved those goals can cause an individual to stress or panic and feel an overwhelming sense of uselessness. At the sub-conscious level, it is this feeling that is actually triggered every time we see those advertisements.
I came across a query on a leading website ‘I'll be turning 30 in two years and the thought of it really depresses me. I feel I haven’t achieved much in my life. Is that normal?’
I was kind of shocked to read this. As children we couldn’t wait to grow up but as grown ups we don’t want to grow older. And that’s hardly the quarter of our life. Look what marketing has done to us! They want us to feel pathetic about ourselves so that we start using their products. I am not debunking the concept of marketing but such kind of marketing is definitely not healthy.
From 29 to 30, it is only another day- c’mon! we're NOT going to suddenly be unable to play or dance or go out like we did in our 20s- we can and will still do everything we did before, but with more wisdom and experience than we did when we started out on our previous decade of life.
Age, I believe, is as much a mental phenomenon as physical. It is the enthusiasm and the zest for life that you possess that matters. We all know Boman Irani the famous principal, Dr J. Asthana in Munnabhai MBBS and then Viru Sahassrabuddhi 3 Idiots. He began his film career at the age of 44 long after the age of 30 and he is definitely enjoying it. We can have thousands of such examples.
For age, at the end of the day is just a number. The world is not just run by under 30s. You don’t stop dreaming after 30. Neither do you stop going after them post 30. Miracles can happen at any age, with or with out the seven signs of aging. So go ahead and celebrate ‘turning 30’ in your own way.
With hundreds of such products flooding our lives, the marketing world has certainly tapped into one of the most dreaded insecurities of mankind, i.e. ‘losing their youth’. Given a chance we all would definitely like to stay young forever. But root of the matter is that even before those fine lines become visible on your face, these ‘miracle producing’ companies are ready to declare you ‘old’ under the microscope.
Anti-ageing, which is a big market in the western world, is catching up in India at a growth rate of 40 per cent. We didn’t even realize when we began to take 30 as the start of ageing. And such has been the effect created by the marketing geniuses of the world that people now actually dread to cross the age mark of 30.
Given a chance, many would not even celebrate their thirtieth birthday. Birthday’s become a day of existential crisis. Many will do anything, pay any amount, to stop it or at least slow it down. An internal study conducted by the Hindustan Unilevers had revealed that, on an average, the Indian urban consumer spends Rs 900 a month on skin care. No wonder the number of salons is on a rise and even India is now considering ‘Salon
tourism’ seriously.
Another bunch benefiting out of it are the psychiatrists. Age related depression is on a rise as more and more people are finding themselves unable to cope with it. Some say men handle it the worst, while others say it’s the women.
But what is it with 30 that causes depression? As per the ‘psychiatrists’, 30 seems to be an age where people have set specific goals to be achieved, and having not achieved those goals can cause an individual to stress or panic and feel an overwhelming sense of uselessness. At the sub-conscious level, it is this feeling that is actually triggered every time we see those advertisements.
I came across a query on a leading website ‘I'll be turning 30 in two years and the thought of it really depresses me. I feel I haven’t achieved much in my life. Is that normal?’
I was kind of shocked to read this. As children we couldn’t wait to grow up but as grown ups we don’t want to grow older. And that’s hardly the quarter of our life. Look what marketing has done to us! They want us to feel pathetic about ourselves so that we start using their products. I am not debunking the concept of marketing but such kind of marketing is definitely not healthy.
From 29 to 30, it is only another day- c’mon! we're NOT going to suddenly be unable to play or dance or go out like we did in our 20s- we can and will still do everything we did before, but with more wisdom and experience than we did when we started out on our previous decade of life.
Age, I believe, is as much a mental phenomenon as physical. It is the enthusiasm and the zest for life that you possess that matters. We all know Boman Irani the famous principal, Dr J. Asthana in Munnabhai MBBS and then Viru Sahassrabuddhi 3 Idiots. He began his film career at the age of 44 long after the age of 30 and he is definitely enjoying it. We can have thousands of such examples.
For age, at the end of the day is just a number. The world is not just run by under 30s. You don’t stop dreaming after 30. Neither do you stop going after them post 30. Miracles can happen at any age, with or with out the seven signs of aging. So go ahead and celebrate ‘turning 30’ in your own way.
2 comments:
I just loved the way you wrote.
@srinjaya - thanks a lot :)
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